Crumbling Town In Oregon

I went for a walk the other day in a tiny town near me called Myrtle Point, and it was interesting. Small towns in this part of Oregon are mostly crumbling apart, which makes them rather sad places to live (especially with the amount of rain and cloudy weather we get here), but good sources for photos. I only had about an hour, so there were several spots I wasn't able to get to, and I'd like to go back eventually. Out of the dozen or so photos I got, I like four of them.

A lot of old churches in town, all in varying states of disrepair. I doubt they have large enough congregations based on the town's populations to keep the buildings looking saintly.

Processed these through PE8. Hopefully I will get another chance to go down that way, as there are many more interesting sights. I might even get the courage up to photograph some of the denizens, although I don't count that among one of my strong suits!

I went back for a second take; the sun was shining and it was unseasonably warm. It led me into more of an almost playful interpretation of the town, in opposition to the sort of dismal look of last time - I did find a few dismal photos, but the strength of the light didn't suit them.

For a Saturday, with lots of folks out and about (many of them noticed I had a camera, but I didn't get any funny looks. People here are about as good as anywhere else at studiously ignoring other people), there were a lot of closed shops. Most of them in the center of town didn't look like they'd been open for quite a while.

Many of the old homes are relics of grandeur steadily decaying. Both of these were unoccupied, and had signs posted to deter trespassers. But nature has encroached a lot more in the second photo; the grounds around the house were definitely not kept up.

I hear you, it's quite different from what I normally shoot. Can't say for sure what drew me to these straight shots, but I like that, to me at least, there is a kind of 'take me as you find me' to them that interests me, a guilelessness you might say. Appreciate you looking!

Thanks guys! I especially appreciate the processing comments. I came from a straight PP mindset and so alternative processing is something I've sort of jumped into without knowing a lot about where to stop.

The town is still inhabited, it's at about 2400 people and hasn't varied too far from that number for a lot of decades. It's really like stepping into another world, although I'm used to it, living in such a rustic corner of Oregon.